Sweet Potato Cranberry Cheese Melt

I intended to contribute some sweet potato pie for a Thanksgiving Get Together in addition to the cranberry sauce. So much for intentions....

I had a lot of precooked sweet potatoes that desperately needed eating.  I had a lot of cranberry sauce leftover too.  (I made enough, we could of eaten it as the main course.)

I was worn out from eating and visiting the day before. Necessity is the mother of invention, so......


Sweet Potato Cranberry Cheese Melt

1. Mash cool to touch sweet potato in bottom of baking dish.  
2. Layer spoonfuls of cranberry sauce on top.
3. Dot with butter chunks.
4. Salt generously.
5. Layer white cheese of choice.  I used mozzarella, but a nice Jack or Havarti would work too.
6. Bake @ 300* for 20-30 minutes.

This taste ok cool and I ended up making some again for lunch to go the next day too.

Later incarnations involved coconut oil fried, white corn tortillas...even better!

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Simple Lives Thursday

Hot Apple Cider II

This is last season's version: Hot Spiced Apple Cider 
 (I left out the coconut oil and sugar/cream of tartar this time....just didn't need it to taste "right" this time.)

This season the cider source is a little different and so are the flavors.
Here's this year's version:

Hot Apple Cider II
Apple Cider, about 1.5-2 quarts
OJ frozen concentrate, about .25-.5 cups
Mulling spice, handful
Sea Salt, pinch or 2
Gelatin, 8 TBS
Homemade Vanilla, short dribble

Add all the ingredients in order, leaving the vanilla until the very end. Make sure you sprinkle the gelatin slowly over the surface while the cider is still cool.  It may take a few passes for it to absorb the liquid.  Stir gently, declumping if necessary, and then add a medium low heat. Heat for an hour or so or until the whole house smells of sweet and spices, then the vanilla and it's ready to strain and serve.

Leftovers can be reheated or left chilled for a wonderful dessert (add some heavy cream to the mix before chilling or add whipped to the top) or a packable, light meal Spiced Apple "Custard" or Jello.

See Ya In The Gumbo

Beef Tongue Tacos and Broth

The dogs are so NOT getting the tongues anymore.
 
I don't know why it took me so long to get around to cooking one. Tongue is so tasty and flavorful...now I'm wanting mutant animals so I can get more than one tongue per steer.  And the broth from the skin...wow...wow....ummmm, wow!

There are quite a few methods for preparing tongue.  I got impatient and used the pressure cooker.  It was a 1.35 lb tongue and I cooked it at 8 lbs of pressure for a half hour.  I used a trivet and about a half cup of water on the bottom.  I used the natural release method.

While the meat was cooking, I heated the coconut oil for deep frying some white corn tortillas.  While that was heating, I dissolved some gelatin/sugar/cream of tartar/salt in some diced tomatoes and chilies.  The tongue is a high gelatin muscle, like rib eye, but I always like to make sure I am getting enough.

When the pressure was out of the pressure cooker, I grabbed the tongue with some tongs and ran it under some cold water.  When it is cool enough, the skin is SUPPOSED to just release.  I guess I was too impatient again and ended up cutting it off until I got to the tip.  The skin at the tip pulled right off with ease.  I diced the meat into small cubes and put it in with the tomatoes.  In hind sight, it would have been down right decedent to fry them up a little first, fajita-ish, then put them in the sauce.

The only thing needed now was the taco "shells".  I tried "draping" the tortillas on the end of a wooden spoon.  They didn't drape well and the hot oil actually made the sides float up.  Then I tried tongs, holding onto them on one half while pressing them against the side of the pot.  That worked better, but then they puffed up a lot while being held under.  I stopped at 2 tortillas per person.  They weren't pretty but it's the thought that counts, right?

Ok, so the end product was a fresh fried tortilla, yummy meat topping and a glop of sour cream.  A fabulously messy meal that we all enjoyed immensely!

But that's not the end......

No, now I had this delicious smelling liquid at the bottom of my pressure cooker and tongue scraps, mostly skin, but some meat on there too.  So out comes the gallon bag of frozen onion skins and leftover bones/gristle from other meals.  I took the trivet out and emptied the contents of the bag into the pressure cooker.  I added water and some vinegar and salt to 2/3 full.  It's a 6 quart cooker.  I brought it to pressure and cooked for 45 minutes according to the instructions.  I let it the pressure come back down naturally and strained the big stuff out  of the broth with a slotted spoon into a strainer over the pot.

Total yield 3/4 of a gallon of double strength, very gelatinous broth.

The broth has become a simple potato soup, sausage and potato soup, and potato and cheese soup.

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Simple Potato Soup GF, DF

Simple Potato Soup
Pot of potatoes (peeled and diced, cubed or sliced)
Broth/water to cover (Homemade is best, if you've got it)
Unflavored beef gelatin
Saturated Fat (Coconut oil, butter, tallow, bacon grease etc.)
Salt

Fill a pot with peeled and cut potatoes, add broth and cover with extra water, if needed, to cover.  Sprinkle gelatin on top for extra protein and as needed to balance any meat in the meal.  Add some salt and some kind of fat, depending on your needs.  Bring to rolling boil and then simmer for 40 minutes to an hour.  Correct with more salt, as needed.

Excellent as a base for other ingredients or as a easy to digest meal for healing/recovery/stress.  I like it with globs of melted cheese, leftover sausage or steak works too.


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Banana Bread & Muffins - GF

Adapted from the Joy of Cooking: 

Banana Bread & Muffins
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup coconut oil  or butter
1-1 1/4 cup bananas mashed

 1 3/4 cup rice flour
2/3 cup cane sugar 
2 TBS unflavored gelatin
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped apricots (optional)



I haven't had any bananas for YEARS. Cooked bananas do not cause discomfort like raw ones do though.  I could not resist the bargain of a huge bag of bananas for $1...and had a get together coming up.  I peeled the bananas and stuck them in the freezer until needed. 

Mix ingredients in order.  I use a potato masher or ricer for the banana and leave it on the chunky side.  I used Sucanat for the sugar, the caramel ish flavor goes well.  1 loaf recipe makes about a dozen muffins using an ice cream scoop for measuring.  Bake at 350*  for about 25-30 minutes for muffins, 1 hour for a loaf.  I used my toaster oven, so no preheating necessary.  Use a greased pan or tin or use liners.

The muffins were a huge hit and we actually had leftovers too. They freeze well and make a nice snack on the go....or a light meal with a glass of milk.

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Strawberry Cheesecake Smoothie

I make a mean fruit dip.  I love it for dipping strawberries and it goes great as a brownie topping too.  I got my recipes confused the other day and put WAY too much gelatin in the dip.  Seriously, dip should not be slice-able.


Directions:
I added 2 slices too firm cheesecake dip to 2 eggs in the blender and whipped. Much to my delight, the gelatin dip actually did blend in. I was concerned I would get a chunky smoothie....like adding coconut oil that turns gritty in the cold, ewwww.  I added OJ for liquid as needed and a large handful of frozen strawberries. "Seasoning" was some salt, cream of tartar, cane sugar and homemade vanilla extract.

Chunky Tomato Soup

Ingredients:
Leftover Creamy Orzo with Tomatoes
1 can of Tomatoes and chilies
Chicken tidbits, OG (optional)
2 TBS beef gelatin
2 TBS cane sugar
1 TBS cream of tartar
Milk
Sea salt


Leftovers don't have to be "old" to be used, it's actually better if they aren't.  We ate the Orzo for one meal, then it got re-purposed for the very next meal. Ketchup Boy hates tomatoes (no, I haven't figured that one out yet....) but begrudgingly admitted he really liked this.

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Ingredient Spotlight : Tomatoes

Coffee and "Cream" Beef with Rice

This is a "use it up" meal.  It was "sticky" sweet and a little overwhelming for me after one meal.  Ketchup boy was THRILLED and was quite pleased to hog most of the leftovers.


I had 3 chubs of lb packages of my beef in the upstairs freezer.  They don't stack well and I needed to freeze some goat milk, so they got defrosted in the fridge all at once.  I had a partial container of sour cream and nuefchatel, so they got tossed in.  I also had a Tupperware container of brown sugar (a light Muscovado, I think) that has been sitting in the cupboard for a LONG time because it was too hard to use.  I tossed that in too, in one big block.  The gelatin balances the meat and the cream of tartar balances the sugar.  You can get away with cream of tartar with the coffee in moderation because of all the other ingredients.


HINT: If you get the rice cooking first, they should both be ready about the same time.

Coffee and Cream Beef

Leftover coffee (2 cups?)
Beef gelatin (1 cup)
Grass fed ground beef (3 lbs?)
Sour cream (1 cup?)
Cream cheese or neufchatel (1/4 of a package)
Balsamic Vinegar (A few generous shakes)
Brown Sugar (pint sized container, 3/4 full)
Cream of Tartar (1 tsp, at least)
Sea Salt (2 TBS?)

Soak the gelatin in the coffee.  Meanwhile, brown the burger and toss in ingredients in the proportions that appeal to you. Add gelatin coffee mix and heat until blended.  Adjust salt to taste....more salt balances the sweet....up to a point, so does the vinegar. ;)


Rice Cooker Rice
4 scoops jasmine rice
1 TSP cream of tartar
1 TSP sea salt
2-4 TBS Coconut oil
Water to 4 scoop fill line

Place all ingredients in cooker and stir with rice paddle a few times to mix powder with rice and water.  Cook and serve.

Potato Muffins/Biscuits - GF

You HAVE to try these...there just too easy and delicious!

Here's the original recipe, discovered by a friend's daughter:

Potato Muffins (May 1918):
The Farmer's Wife Harvest Cookbook

4 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp sugar
1 egg, well-beaten
1 cup mashed potatoes
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk

My adaptation: Makes approximately 12 muffins
1 cup milk
1 egg
1 large leftover baked potato, skin removed
4+ TBS coconut oil
2 TBS cane sugar
2 tsp beef gelatin
2 tsp cream of tartar
2 cups rice flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt (if using coconut oil or unsalted butter)


Mix everything together in order in a mixer or food processor.  I added a few ingredient at a time and mixed a little in between.  It will look like cream cheese frosting or vanilla soft serve when it's thoroughly mixed. Grease the muffin tin generously.*  Fill each cup about 2/3 full to allow room to rise. Bake at 350 degrees F  for 25-30 minutes.  I used my toaster oven. When done, allow to cool slightly and run a knife around the side to pop them out.  I ate mine with strawberry jam.

*I used the back of a spoon to slather about a TBS of extra coconut oil in each cup, making sure to get the sides and bottoms.

These could easily be made as drop biscuits by making them free form instead...maybe with just a little tweaking.  They scream biscuits and gravy!

You could also place some protein in the center for a to-go meal:
Cheese and an apple slice
Spaghetti sauce with meat and gelatin
Scrambled egg with mushrooms
Jam with gelatin
Or  ??????

Fat Tuesday
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Simple Lives Thursday

Hash with Apple Cider Reduction Glaze

Ingredients

2-4 TBS Coconut Oil

Potatoes, diced

Ham, precooked and diced

2 TBS Sea Salt

2 cups Apple Cider

Gelatin

Black Pepper (optional)

Heat the coconut oil in the pan, I used the leftover oil saved from cooking the ham the previous day.  Dice the cleaned or peeled potatoes and start them cooking.  Use enough to fill the pan, yet leave room for the amount of ham desired.  I used a 60/40 ratio of potatoes to ham to start with, as the potatoes cook down.    Add salt.  Dice the ham and add to potatoes when the potatoes are mostly cooked through. Add pepper, if desired.  I had some leftover Spiced Apple Cider made with apricot and orange juice, so used that with extra gelatin added.  Pour the Apple Cider/gelatin mix to the Hash and let bubble gently on medium or lower for about 10-15 minutes. You can stir if you want, but I didn't...just set the timer and did other things.  

Let cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

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Melt in Your Mouth Monday

Ahhh....Breakfast!

Home Smoked Turkey Drumstick with Warmed Orange Cranberry Sauce

The leftover cranberry sauce was already in pyrex, so I took the legs sent home with me in a doggy bag and put them in a small pyrex tray and put everything in the toaster oven.  The default setting on my oven is 30 minutes at 300*, perfect for reheating just about anything.

The turkey was purchased from a local grower who raises them on pasture with non GMO feed.   This was a "runt" at 11 lbs.  My friend likes to brine her birds and her husband smokes them using a blend of real woods.  I think hickory and pecan were part of this years batch.  Good stuff...especially the dark meat!


Friday Potluck
Friday Food

Coffee Bites

This is strong stuff, a little dab'll do ya.....think coffee gummy candy.  

Ingredients:
2 TBS Beef Gelatin
2 TBS Cane Sugar 
Pinch of Salt (Optional)
1 Cup Hot Coffee

Mix dry ingredients together, then add coffee slowly while stirring rapidly.  Chill for at least an hour, then nibble.
OR
Drink some of it hot, then chill the rest for later.

"Mulled" Coffee

Out of curiosity, instead of tossing the mulling spices strained out of the hot cider, I decided to experiment with some leftover coffee. It worked well, reminiscent of pumpkin pie, kinda sorta.  I might try adding the spice directly to the grounds when I make a fresh pot.

Mulled Coffee
Leftover Coffee
Pinch of Salt (if not already in the coffee)
Beef Gelatin (approx. 1 TBS per serving)
Mulling Spice
Cane Sugar to taste

Fresh Milk or Cream

1. Add ingredients in order to cold coffee and let sit for a minute or so while the gelatin absorbs the liquid. Save the milk for later.
2. When the gelatin is ready, heat on medium low for about 15 minutes. stirring occasionally.
3. Prepare the serving cups or mugs with some hot water in each.  Let sit until the coffee is hot. (If your kitchen is a cool as mine right now, this is mandatory to prevent tepid coffee.)
4. Fill the mugs halfway with milk or a quarter full of cream and add strained coffee.

Spiced Apple Cider "Custard" (non dairy, GF)

Q. What happens to a hot drink with gelatin in it when it cools down?

A. It wiggles and jiggles!

Yesterday's Hot Cider became a wonderful, creamy textured jello that leaned to the custard or pudding mouth feel.  The spice was a little strong when cool, but it was still a wonderful surprise.  I think the solids in the juices make the difference.

Simply Delish

Cranberry Coconut Stew with Beef

Cranberry Coconut Stew with Beef  (8+ servings)
(fits a 4 quart slow cooker)

2 lbs Homegrown, grass fed beef, cubed 
1 package OG frozen Cranberries 
1 can Pineapple with juice
1 can Golden Star Coconut milk (no stabilizers or fillers)
8-10 TBS Beef Gelatin
8-10 TBS Cane sugar with Cream of tartar
Salt to taste 
1-2 TBS Green Thai Curry paste (optional)
1 Onion, sliced (optional)

I had asked for some GOAT stew meat to be brought up from the freezer...I guess the lighting was poor or something.  I prefer to use organic cranberries because the non organic I can get locally have all had an unpleasant bitterness I don't care for.  The price isn't much different because I buy them AFTER season and hoard.

I layered the beef on the bottom of the slow cooker, with the cranberries filling in around the still frozen blocks.  I mixed the dry ingredients together first, then sprinkled over the top.  The canned items were added next, with the curry paste and onion being an after thought.  I like the balance of sweet and tart and found that the salt counter balanced the sour as well.

There's enough acid in the broth that the gelatin stays fairly liquid even in the fridge.  Leftovers pour out of the jar instead of having to be carved out.

Food and Health Carnival 
Alimentary Tuesdays Carnival

Sauted Brats and Peach Stew

The problem:

SOMEONE picked all the meat and most of the peaches out of the Goat and Coconut Peach Stew so went I went to reheat some, it was basically rice and broth. 

The solution:

I grabbed a package of brats out of the freezer and soaked them in a large bowl of cold water in the sink.  Meanwhile, I started to heat some coconut oil in a large fry pan and sliced some onion in for sautéing.  Adding salt and stirring occasionally, I got the soup reheating with some extra peaches, coconut milk and gelatin.  I added the brats, cut up into bites sized pieces.  When the brats were cooked, the "broth"  was done too and the brats and onions went in with the broth and Brats and Peach stew was born.

Breakfast "loaf" and Soup

I was so pleased with the casserole I made yesterday, I wanted to make it again.  I was out of cottage cheese, so I improvised.  This is probably the "standard" recipe for some "officially named" dish already, but I made this for breakfast and used my meatloaf pan, hence I call it my breakfast loaf. ;)

Ingredients:
3 potatoes, peeled and shredded
A few chunks of white cheese (sliced off a 5 lb brick, amount unknown...I just threw it in.)
1 egg
Milk (mine is raw and grass fed but starting to overflow the fridge again)
Salt (I used WAY too much this time, don't use as much as I did.  I think cutting back on the potatoes to cheese ratio messed me up.****)
A dash of thyme
A few shakes of red pepper flakes
Extra cheese for the top

Scramble an egg in a mixing bowl and add shredded cheese and potatoes.  Add some milk enough to coat potatoes ( a cup?) and mix.  Add some salt ( use 1/2 the amount or less) and spices and mix well.  Slather sides and bottom of baking dish in coconut oil and add potato mix. Top with extra cheese.

Bake at 400* for 45 minutes or so.  Let cool and serve.

Chilled slices can be refried in a pan with coconut oil for about 10 minutes for an easy snack later on.

*****I finally figured out what went wrong....the salt level in the Colby cheese was much higher than in the cottage cheese.  We were able to enjoy this later that day re-purposed as soup by adding milk...... a lot of milk and NO extra salt.

Re-purposed Breakfast Loaf Soup

Breakfast Loaf Soup
Leftover Breakfast Loaf, chopped (most of it....)
Milk to desired thickness (approximately 2 cups)



Bring to temperature in a pan and serve.


Grain Free Real Food Carnival

Pan Fried Baked Potato

Place a few TBS of coconut oil in a frying pan and heat at medium 

Take your leftover, room temperature baked potatoes, cut in half and place cut side down in hot pan

Fry for about 10 minutes until golden brown

Remove from heat, salt and serve.

Friday Potluck
Friday Food 
Potato Blog Hop

Potato Soup ( or Chowder) GF

Base
Leftover mashed potatoes
Beef gelatin
Milk
Salt/pepper to taste

I use approximately 1 TBS gelatin to 1 cup potatoes with a 1:1 ratio of milk for a THICK chowder and 1:2 cup milk for a thinner soup.  Heat and serve.

Optional Add ins
Clams
Oysters
Leftover bacon (is there such a thing?????)
Chicken
Sausage
Beef
Shrimp
Salmon
Mushrooms
Onions
Pickled hot peppers/red pepper flakes

Mochanoff (Beef Stroganoff with Coffee/Cocoa Sauce) GF

I was wandering around online and found a delicious looking recipe for a Beef/Coffee Stew.  I also had a large portion of fresh mushrooms that needed to get used.  We are experiencing a bit of cold spell* but Soup/Stew was vetoed...so I decided to sneak the coffee into some Stroganoff instead.


*Ok, it's not THAT cold but 60's at night and 70's during the day IS cold compared to 100+ weather...I like it!

Here is my basic recipe:  Beef Stroganoff.   I doubled all the ingredients because of the amount of mushrooms I had, except the meat.  My skillet was practically overflowing with mushrooms, so I cooked the meat separately in the wok, using this recipe:  Deep Fried Beef.
I substituted the Sugar/COT with a 2:1 cane sugar/cocoa powder mix when I remembered that coffee and cream of tartar taste absolutely horrid together.  I mixed the dry ingredients together (gelatin, cocoa, cane sugar, salt) then sprinkled it slowly, while stirring, over the already sautéed mushrooms.  It looked like fudge with mushrooms. ;)
I added coffee to thin the sauce, about a cup or so, then the sour cream, then the meat.  The noodle were done right when I was finishing the sauce,  so I added a little extra salt and served everyone a small portion (just in case) over penne rice noodles.  It was a well received.

Something was missing for me though, I couldn't put my finger on it.  Then I remembered, I usually add vinegar....

I added a few dashes of Balsamic Vinegar to my bowl and mixed in.  Oh yeah....it all just came together.  Sweet, savory, salty, sour in balance.....and extremely filling.  Everyone used the balsamic for the second pass and agreed, it was even better.

I can totally see this as a topping for mashed potatoes or use goat meat for a shepherd's pie filling.

If I was going to use a crockpot/slow cooker for this recipe, I would add a layer of coconut oil on the bottom and wipe it up the sides a little to prevent sticking.  I would then add the rest in this order:

Beef

Mushrooms

Onions and/or Red pepper flakes (if using)

Dry ingredients mixed with Coffee (as a paste)

Vinegar

I would cover and cook it low and slow for 8 hours or so, then turn it off and add the sour cream and correct for seasoning right before serving.

Hearth and Soul Hop 
Hunk of Meat Monday
What's Cooking Wednesday
Totally Tasty Tuesday
Made From Scratch Tuesday
Gluten Free Wednesday
Foodie Wednesday 
Ultimate Recipe Swap 
Ingredient Spotlight: Cocoa